It's Never Too Late
by ToxThexMoonxAndxBack
Summary: Somethings push you closer together. Something's tear you apart. Kate and Jake find themselves getting closer after a series of difficult events. As they learn more about each other's past they start to think about their present and future. (Kate/Jake. Please review.)
1. Stay

An: this was something I came up with and I couldn't wait till I'd finished happy families to post so yeah. Thanks to my friends Sophie and Brittany for help with proof reading and stuff. Please review it means the world xxxxx

XxX

The call was one of the worst of his life. It sent him on a mission to get to the given street name as soon as possible, struggling to stay in the speed limit as he went. When he arrived he saw the car being pulled out of the river and a body in the drivers seat. That was Kate's car. He looked around desperately. There was an ambulance. She was sat in the back, alive.

He walked quickly over to her. "Kate." He said and she looked up. She was shivering and had scratches all over her arms and on the side of her face. What the hell had happened here?

She got to her feet and wrapped her arms around him. He returned the hug holding her close to him. He could see she needed someone there with her. She was shaking, he didn't know if she was cold or if she was afraid. Maybe it was both. He gently stroked her hair, kissing the top of her head. He slowly felt her move back slightly to look at him.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"Ronnie called me. Said you'd been in some kind of accident."

"I wasn't driving...Emerson was..."

"Why?"

"He was waiting outside after I came out of the pub. He had a gun. He grabbed me. Made me give him the keys. He made me get in the car. He was driving like an idiot then he crashed and went into the river. I jumped out the car before it went in."

They both looked over to where a body bag was being zipped up.

"Are you okay?" He asked putting his hand to her cheek seeing her eyes were brimming with tears but she wouldn't let them fall.

"Can you take me home?"

He nodded. Ron could wait for a statement if she'd not already given one. He took his jacket off and wrapped it around her before putting his arm around her too and guiding her to his car. She kept his jacket over her in the car, her gorgeous 'Kate' attire of blouse and skirt didn't offer her much warmth at midnight in April.

Pulling up outside her house they both got out the car and went inside.

He sent her to go and get changed whilst he made her a cup of tea, he wanted her to sleep so coffee didn't seem like a good idea. He handed it to her when she returned and she took it gratefully.

"Thanks Jake."

"Anytime."

He was about to say maybe he should go even if he didn't want to but she took his hand. "Stay. Please."

"Of cause." He gave her a small comforting smile, he hadn't wanted to leave her on her own after the night she'd had but hadn't wanted to make her feel uncomfortable. He could still see she looked scared and stepped closer to her put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay."

XxX

Kate woke up with a start. She called out for Jake without thinking. Her heart was thundering and she felt sick.

Her bedroom door opened.

"Kate what is it? Are you alright?" Jake asked crossing the room to her.

Her breathing was laboured and her eyes were wet.

"Sorry..." She gasped gripping the sheets trying to calm herself down she felt so embarrassed. "It was just a dream. I'm okay."

He sat down on the edge of the bed. "You sure? Are you gonna go back to sleep?" He met her gaze and could see there was so much she wasn't telling him.

"Will you stay with me?"

He nodded, how could he not. He didn't know what he and Kate was relationship wise. Were they friends or more than that. The way thy acted around each other. The constant flirting. He put all of that out of his mind. After everything she'd been through that night she just needed him there to know she wasn't alone. "Yeah."

She moved up and he laid beside her, lifting his arm for her to come close to him. She did. She laid her head on his chest and he wrapped his arm around her. She felt safe when she was with him. She didn't know why. She'd never had to be dependent on anyone else to protect her. They way she'd been brought up you had to take of herself.

Conner Emerson had been accused of murder and decided to take his anger out on Kate. She was lead prosecutor of the trial. Now he was dead.

Jake felt guilty, he'd left the pub early to go and make sure Henry was aware of what was going on in court leaving Kate with Joe. She then left alone which was when Emerson targeted her. If he'd stayed with her would this have happened? Would Emerson had come after them both? He doubted it. He wouldn't have tackled the both of them, but Kate on her own?

"It's not your fault you know?" She said softly and he smirked at the fact she was able to read his mind. "Just because you left early."

"If I had stayed."

"No Jake..." She sighed. "He had a gun. We know what he was capable of and we know that he would've probably just killed you on the spot and I couldn't live with myself if that happened."

He gently rubbed the skin of her arm. "He could've taken you with him."

"I'm still alive though."

"Thank god."

She smiled slightly feeling relaxed in his arms. She lifted her head and Jake wondered what she was going to do. She reached her hand up to touch the side of his face before kissing the corner of his mouth.

"Goodnight Jake."

"Night Kate." He said holding his breath for a moment. Stroking her arm again he noticed she'd gone back to sleep.


	2. Nobody is invincible

An: please review love you all xxx

xxx

Kate woke the next morning to the sun light creeping through under the curtains. She looked up to see Jake was still asleep. For a moment she was confused then everything from the night before came flooding back. Her head and hand were still rested on his chest. She could feel his heart beating, a soft steady rhythm. She saw his eyes flicker open.

"Good morning." He said half asleep and Kate couldn't help the smile that tugged on her lips. She'd seen him half asleep before, when they'd been in the office all night working on a case but this was different. He looked so relaxed.

"Mornin'." She said back and he stroked her arm with his thumb. Waking up to her was something he could get used to. She looked so much brighter than the night before when he'd gone to find her. Then when she'd called out to him after some kind of nightmare.

"What time is it?" He asked and she looked over her shoulder briefly to catch a glimpse of the clock.

"Half eight. We won't be getting to work on time."

He chuckled. "I doubt Henry will expect you in after last night."

"What about you?"

"We'll just say I was being nice for once."

"We should probably get up."

He groaned slightly. "I don't want to..."

She was about to say something when her phone started ringing. She sat up and Jake's hand dropped from her arm to her waist as she reached to her bedside table to pick up her phone to see Ronnie was calling.

"Hello."

"Hey Kate. Look I know you probably don't want to but would you be able to come into the station to give your statement about what happened last night? Oh and Henry's told me to tell you not to come into work until you feel you're alright to. He wanted to call Jake to keep an eye on you but couldn't get hold of him."

Kate looked at Jake knowing he could hear the conversation. "What time do you want me in and erm...Jake's already here."

"Oh. Okay. Erm. At about 1. Thanks Kate."

"Goodbye."

Hanging up her phone she put it back on the bedside table before looking back at him.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Jake asked and Kate smiled.

"Yes please."

"Okay." He forced himself to sit up. "Go get ready. I'll need go home, get changed too. Then we'll have time for coffee before going to see Ron."

She nodded. Sounded like a plan. She kissed his cheek. "Thank you." She then got up and grabbed clothes from various drawers and wardrobes before disappearing into her bathroom.

Jake straightened himself out best he could whilst he waited for her. The last 12 hours or more had been strange. He knew they'd been difficult for Kate. She was the strongest person he knew but she still must have been terrified. He felt guilty for leaving her but she'd told him it wasn't his fault. Just before she'd almost kissed him. They'd never been as close as they had just been. It was though when they were together it seemed so natural that they didn't even notice how it changed to being intimate.

He kept thinking of how Kate looked when he found her sat in the back of the ambulance. The cuts and scratches had been cleaned but she's looked as though she'd been attached. She must've hit the floor with such force when she'd jumped from the car he was surprised she'd not been dragged under the wheels. He shook those images from his mind immediately.

"You ready?" She asked putting her hand on his shoulder startling him.

"Huh. Yeah." He stood liking her up and down. "You okay?"

"I'm pretty much bruised all down one side and I feel like death but I'll be alright."

He smirked. "Good."

XxX

Arriving at MIU just before one Kate took a deep breath.

"You ready?" Jake asked placing his hand on the small of her back. To comfort her? Or probably just to touch her.

She nodded before walking to the room Ron was waiting for them in.

"Afternoon you two." He said looking up to see them, not failing to notice where Jake's hand was. "You ready Kate?" As much as she'd tried to cover her bruises with make up he could still see them.

"Yeah." She took a seat and bit her lip.

"In your own time."

"I came out of the pub on my own. I got my keys out of my bag which was when someone grabbed me putting a hand over my mouth so I couldn't scream. I felt the barrel of the gun being pressed into the side of my head. They told me to give them the keys and I recognised he voice. I knew it was Connor Emerson and he took the keys from my hand before I had chance to say anything. He dragged me to the passenger side and I tried to struggle but he was stronger than me..."

Kate paused to check Ron was keeping up.

"I didn't know what he was going to do but he got in the drivers side. He started staying that he wasn't going to prison and that he'd rather die. He was driving like a mad man and I saw him going towards the river. I managed to open my door and jump from the car before he hit the barrier and go over."

Kate felt a pain in the side of her face as she remembered how she'd landed in her side and her head had hit the floor.

When Ron had what he needed he told Kate she could leave.

"What now?" Jake asked as he and Kate left the MIU.

"I don't know..."

"Pub?"

"Pub." She linked arms with him.

He smiled. He was liking the new found closeness between the two of them. Saying he hadn't thought about the two of them together before would be a lie. He spent pretty much every day with Kate, if they weren't in the office together they were in the pub or at each other's homes.

"There you go." He placed a glass in front of her.

She looked up at him and smiled.

"What?" He asked slightly confused.

"Why are you so protective of me?"

A blush started to creep up his neck. "Because I care about you."

She bit her lip. "Thanks, Jake." She reached across the table and put her hand on top of his. "I don't know what I would've done without."

"You're strong Kate but nobody is invincible."


	3. We're a pretty good team

An: so if you follow me on tumblr you'll know why I'm so behind on writing but all I can say is sorry and this is only short because of that reason but I want to move on with this story so this is all I can do for this chapter. Chapter 7 of Happy Families is proving a nightmare to write but I'll try and get that done as soon as possible. Thanks for waiting, please review xxx

xxx

"Here you go." Jake held out a bottle of beer to Kate sitting on the floor beside her, leaning his back against the sofa. A half eaten pizza and several already empty beer bottles scattered around them. They'd had a long day in the office which led to them sitting on Jake's living room floor slowly getting drunk whilst only half watching a film. It had been a week since Emerson had died and things were slowly getting back to normal but both of them were still confused about what was happening between them.

They seemed to find that they missed each other when the other one wasn't around, it hadn't been that bad before. Sure it was quiet when they weren't together but this was different. They had got through a whole week without a argument that lasted longer than about five minutes. Their back and forth banter was stronger than ever.

"Thanks." She took it with a smile, she sipped her drink before putting it down. "Do you believe Bridges is guilty?" She asked referring to the case they had been working on for the past few days. Henry had said her experience with Emerson was traumatic but she had made a scene about him over reacting and that she was fine. She wanted to work. She'd been through worse things than practically being kidnapped and having to jump out of a car. The shock of everything had affected her the most, as it would anyone. Jake had been there for her though.

"Kate..." He sighed holding her gaze. "Let's not talk about the case...we've managed not to talk about it for the last 3 hours..."

She leaned her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry...I just can't seem to get it out of my mind..."

He moved to be able to put his hand on her cheek and get her to look at him. "We'll get Bridges for his girlfriend's death."

"You can't know that."

"But I believe it. When we go in to court we'll do everything we can..."

She smiled. "We're a pretty good team."

"Yeah we are."

The level of intimacy between them wasn't something they were unable to ignore. Her eyes flittered from the floor to look back at his. Slowly he lent closet to her and she didn't move back. Their lips met and suddenly everything they'd been feeling, hiding, wanting came rushing to the front of their mind. Breathless they pulled back.

"Kate..." His voice was quiet as he spoke.

"I know..."

He kissed her again but this time it was full of the hunger they had for each other. Jake's hand tangled itself in Kate's hair and he knew this was the right thing, the two of them together. After everything they'd done, they had waited a long time, spent so long ignoring the obvious.

He hadn't realised until now how strong his feelings towards her was, not until their lips had met.


	4. Big brother

An: thanks for reading as always and please review. I promise I will get round to updating Happy Families. I was also thinking of doing a song fic and an AU story for this show (au story where Kate and Jake meet as teenagers) don't know if anyone is interested? So yeah. Thanks. Hope to see more people posting fics soon. Doesn't seem to be many of us anymore. Xxx

XxX

"Miss Barker." Kate spun on her heels and Jake stopped in his tracks when they heard the woman in reception call her.

"Yes, Hannah?" Kate said.

"There's a man here to see you."

Kate looked confused for a moment before both her and Jake followed Hannah. Kate's face lit up the moment she saw the man in question. Jake didn't recognise him. The man was older than her maybe in his late thirties. Kate ran over to him and he smiled pulling her into a hug.

"Ay up Katie." He spoke with a Manchester accent.

"Alec." She laughed. "How long have you been in London?" She took a step back.

"About 3 hours."

Jake watched puzzled.

"Why didn't you call?"

"Wanted to surprise you."

"Well you have done that." She moved to one side to look at Jake. "Jake, this is my brother, Alec."

Alec held out his hand shaking Jake's. "So you're the guy who got stuck with my baby sister? How long before she drove you mad?"

Jake laughed slightly. "About half an hour. You never mentioned you had a brother."

"I've been in the states for the past five years. I'm an architect, been working on a big project but I'm back now so it's nice to meet you."

"Where are you staying?" Kate asked.

"Nan and Grandpa's house here in London. They're coming over too this week you know."

"Really? Gosh this like a Family reunion only with the people I actually like."

"Oh you don't change sis." Alex ruffled Kate's hair and she slapped his hand away. "Feisty little chica."

"Yeah well I have a serious job that you're gate crashing."

He laughed. "Okay okay Katie. I'll be on my way but i shall speak to you later and you should call Nan and ask when they're coming."

She ducked as he tried to ruffle her hair again. "Bye."

Alec then left, laughing as he went.

"Well that was an experience." Kate looked at Jake and he smiled.

"How come you never mentioned having a brother?"

"I don't really talk about any of my family, like he said he's been in America for five years." She shrugged as they began walking back to their office. "There was three of us, me being the youngest. Then my sister Elizabeth, then Alec. He's like 11 years older than me."

"So where's your sister?"

Kate bit her lip and Jake sensed he'd struck a nerve.

"She erm...I've not seen her since I was about 15...she would've been what 20 maybe..." She said just as they walked through their office door. "She was a bit of wild child. We lived in a rough an area and she just got swept along with it and my parents threw her out because of that. She got in with the wrong crowd and couldn't get help, not till she got pregnant anyway. Then she got help, only till the baby was born..." She paused getting to her desk. "Still. It was a long time ago."

Jake watched her as she began picking up folders and started to talk about the case. He hadn't known anything about her sister or her brother. Neither of them had ever really spoken about their family. It was as though they didn't have any. Clearly though Kate did. She had a brother, her grandparents. A sister apparently who she hadn't spoken to for a long time. Her parents hadn't had a mention. He didn't know if she ever was in contact with them. He still had a lot to learn about Kate obviously.

Jake didn't have any family left, his mother was dead now and his father had died when he was a teenager. As an only child he'd never had a lot of family to deal with unlike Kate who although she may not get on with all her family she still has them there.

Kate hadn't wanted to go into detail with Jake about her family. Her sister had been a drug addict and was only clean for the time she was pregnant. After that she went back to it, well Kate guessed she did she hardly even saw Beth after social services took the baby and their parents banned Kate from having anything to do with her.

She'd been thirteen when that happened two years later when the social came back and said her parents were not providing a safe home for her she'd been sent to live with her grandparents and Alec on their ranch. This had happened after Kate had been beat up by one of the lads on their estate. Kate had fought back best she could but she was smaller than him. He'd gone at her for being clever. He knew she had a chance of getting somewhere and hated it. Kate hadn't seen her sister since she'd visited her half way house to say goodbye.

Living away from her parents after that helped her a lot. Helped her recover mentally from everything she'd seen growing up. Being away from everything helped though didn't get rid of her memories. She was stuck with those but she put it all behind her. Pushed on and made something of herself.

Henry walked into their office interrupting her mental trip down memory lane. "Any news on Bridges?"

"He's changed his plea to guilty." Jake explained. "So that saves us a trial."

"Why did he change it all of a sudden?"

"Dunno." Kate shrugged annoyed that they'd been through a lot of worrying for nothing. "His brief didn't say. Judge is sentencing him later today."

"Well keep me up to date on what's happening."

"We will." Kate nodded and Henry disappeared back into his office. She looked at Jake. "What time do we need to be there?"

"3." Jake lent his hand on her desk. "We've got some time to kill."

"I should call my nan." Kate ran her hand over face. "That should be fun for you, meeting my family, they are mental."

He laughed. "Dearest you are mental."

Kate picked up her phone. "I know." She then found her Nan's number and pressed call.


	5. 3 am

An; Sorry for being so slow with my updating recently but I've had a lot going on. I'm going to delete Dear Diary because I am finding it difficult to write in the style of a diary but I will do an AU story as I've lots of requests on tumblr so I'll make a start on that. So anyway. here is chapter five, please review, tell me where you'd like this story to go if you want. (Do the same for Happy Families if you didn't read chapter seven as I've got writers block on that haha) Thanks for reading as always. xxx

XxX

"What are you doing?" Jake asked Kate as he walked into their kitchen at 3am.

His voice filling the room so suddenly made her jump and the glass of water she'd been holding fell from her hands and shattered across the floor.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She said putting her hand on her chest feeling her heart beating like a drum.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I just didn't know where you'd gone…" He crossed the room to her concerned.

She bent down to pick up the glass but he put his hand on her. "Let me. It's my fault anyway." He gave her a small smile, before he slowly and carefully picked up the pieces of glass and threw them away. "What are you doing up anyway?"

"I couldn't sleep." She rubbed her eye. "We've got so much going on at the moment…" She walked over to the kitchen table where several files and bits of paper were laid out from where they'd been working on a current case.

"I know. It's just one case after another." He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "But you need to stop thinking about Rose Holland, we've got no accused yet."

"I can't help it…"

"Kate…"

"You don't understand." She breathed in wondering if she sounded harsh. Maybe that hadn't come out the way she'd wanted it to. She turned in his arms. "I used to be like her, I could've ended up like her too. You forget Jake that my life started of very differently from what it is now. I didn't have a happy, safe place to live. A family I could turn to. In the last months of her life she was feeling something I felt for years. The feeling that you want to give up but knowing that you can't because everyone else is depending on you to be strong. It isn't something that you forget about. It's not something you dismiss when you see it in someone else."

He took her hands. "Kate…I don't want you to ever feel like again…"

"I haven't in a long time. But seeing Rose's case…she was twelve when her mother died. Her dad tried to keep it together but she had to grow up so fast, like I did, but had to pretend she was still a child so no one noticed. You know as well as I do what a lonely childhood leads to…" She paused. "The one suspect Ron and Joe had, has a concrete alibi…it wasn't him. But as hardly anyone even knew Rose Holland it's hard to find someone who might have some information…"

Kate closed her eyes feeling as though she was about to burst into tears, which was not something she was prepared to do. She was tougher than that. She shouldn't cry over something she couldn't change. Normally she wasn't affected by a case but sometimes there would be one that hit a raw nerve. She would be left thinking about those times when she would lay awake at night on that rundown Manchester estate. Wishing her brother and sister would come home but knowing they wouldn't because their parents had banned them from returning. Wishing her life was different. Wishing someone else would be the strong one for once.

"They will find out who did this, Kate. Ron and Joe are the best…"

"You can't be sure of that and nor can I…she just didn't deserve the ending she got."

"Come here…"Jake pulled her into a hug. It broke his heart to know Kate had hurt so much growing up and had no one there for her until she finally escaped the family home. When she was reunited with her brother and moved in with her grandparents. He knew this was when things started getting better but the damage had still been done. She was right, he did know what a lonely childhood could lead to; it could lead to becoming distant. Until he met Kate he was still the stoic person he had been as a teenager.

He kissed her cheek. "We should go back to bed…"

She nodded. She was unbelievably tired but hadn't yet been able to sleep at all. She knew though she wouldn't be able to do a day's work on about an hours sleep.

"I just feel as though if we don't find who did it soon it will be too late."

"It's never too late.


End file.
